Vick says he's not holding the ball too long'

PHILADELPHIA — What began yesterday with Michael Vick saying “No, I’m not holding the ball too long” escalated into a warning.

“Don’t try to make that an issue,” Vick said after practice. “It’s not.”

For Vick it’s not a concern.

But it’s a legitimate question to ask of an Eagles offense struggling to get touchdowns in the red zone.

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The way Vick sees it right now, you’re with him, against him or need a crash course in how to play quarterback.

Along the latter lines Vick threatened to bring a film projector to the media tent to prove frame-by-frame he was right.

“Listen, whoever is saying I’m holding the ball too long, they don’t know anything about football and they need to go watch the film,” Vick said. “I’m going to pull some film out for you all and I’m going to have a clicker right here and we’re going to go through every play so I can break it down, verbatim, play-for-play for you all.”

If Vick played the game right now so clearly and forcefully he might not be getting these questions. Then again, the way the Eagles are taking turns making mistakes, it’s possible he has a point.

At any rate it was that kind of day for Vick, who’s feeling the stress of a start full of yardage but short on points and substance. The Eagles (1-3) have lost three straight games.

Incredibly only Peyton Manning and the undefeated Denver Broncos get more yards than the Eagles.

When the Eagles haven’t robbed themselves of touchdowns with penalties and turnovers, they’ve failed to produce in the red zone.

Four cans of game film into the season opposing defenses have tightened up coverage of the Eagles pass routes, mixed up the pass rush and forced Vick to go to his secondary targets by taking away the first look.

“That’s what they’re coached to do, to take away the first read,” Vick said. “And that’s why it’s called progression from a quarterback’s standpoint.”

Vick bristled when it was intimated his decisions about where to go with the ball were impacted by trying too hard to avoid turnovers.

“I play within the offense,” he said.

Whatever it is the Eagles need to find the remedy in a hurry. They’re one road loss to the winless New York Giants this Sunday from head coach Chip Kelly facing an interrogation about who his starting quarterback should be. Nick Foles led the Eagles to a touchdown in mop-up duty in the 52-20 loss at Denver last week.

“It’s a big game for us,” Vick said. “We’re looking forward to it. We’re working extremely hard. Had a good day of practice and we’re looking to get some more prep in.”

On paper the Eagles’ schedule has gotten softer. In the next four weeks they play the Giants twice, as well as the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The combined records are 2-10.

The first four Eagles opponents are 11-5.

“We’ve just got to win,” Vick said. “I mean, you can’t look no further than this game this week. We’ve got to get win, number...Win No. 2.”

By the time the Eagles get on the MetLife Stadium field, it will be almost a month since they triumphed in their opener. That’s the one where they ran 53 plays to grab a 26-7 lead at the half.

When Vick critiques himself, he doesn’t quite see the guy who orchestrated that big barrage.

“Got to score, got to finish drives,” said Vick, who has thrown just five scoring passes against two interceptions. “Whether it’s me or whether it’s the entire team or the entire offense, we’ve got to finish drives.”